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Hawk Roosting
/ Through the bones of the living.” The hawk’s life is literally
SUMMARY governed the “allotment of death.” In other words, it is meant to
kill.
I, a hawk, sit at the top of the forest with my eyes shut. I'm doing
nothing, holding no false dreams between my head's curved The hawk knows this, and comments on the way that nature
beak and the curved talons of my feet. In my sleep, I dream seems to be perfectly designed to facilitate the hawk’s hunting.
about killing my prey perfectly and eating them. Nature is “of advantage to me,” it says, and describes itself as
the product of “the whole of Creation.” "Creation" here refers
The trees are so well-suited to my way of being! The air I float
to both nature and the entirety of existence, while also alluding
on and the sun's light seem perfectly adapted to my way of life,
to a religious worldview. This religious element is relevant to
and the earth faces the sky so I can inspect it.
the poem because much of human morality is based on or
My feet are gripped tightly to the branch. It took millions of informed by religion (and vice versa). The mention of Creation
years to make my foot, and every single feather. Sometimes, I speaks to the hawk’s prowess, but also to the incredible way
hold other products of Creation in my foot when I catch them. that nature evolves to create the conditions for its creatures to
Other times I soar high into the sky, revolving the world around flourish—even if those same creatures are essentially killing
me as I spiral up in slow circles. I kill when and where I want, machines.
because the world belongs to me. I have no use for clever but The hawk insists upon its rightful place within the natural order
false logical thinking: my politeness is ripping the heads off my by describing the prey that it holds “in my foot” as part of
prey— “Creation” too. The hawk understands that both it and its prey
That's how death gets dished out. And my one true way takes have their roles to play, even if one seems easier to stomach
me straight through life, causing others to die. I need no logical than the other. In other words, the hawk’s capacity for violence
justifications for my actions. is as natural as things that seem more innocent: flowers or
I fly between the earth and the sun, and it has always been this puppies, for example!
way. My gaze has not allowed anything to changed. I will keep This understanding that killing and violence are an integral part
things like this forever. of nature informs the hawks’ attitude and personality. It rejects
human understanding and morality, claiming that it has no need
for “falsifying dream[s]” or “sophistry.” Sophistry is the use of
THEMES clever but false arguments, which the hawk, acting in
accordance with its true nature, has no need for. As such,
NATURE AND VIOLENCE humans are wrong to project their moral
frameworks—especially the equation of violence with
In “Hawk Roosting,” Ted Hughes imagines the interior evil—onto the natural world. Nature, insists the hawk, is
thoughts of one of the great birds of prey: the hawk. governed by its own laws.
The poem is told entirely from the perspective of the hawk,
which is personified as having the powers of conscious thought That’s why the hawk has only “one path”; it’s one true way is
and a command of English. What the hawk lacks, however, are that of a killer—killing is its nature. And that’s why the hawk
human qualities like mercy and remorse: it is ruthless and states that “Nothing has changed since I began […] I am going to
direct in its thoughts about hunting prey, though this violence is keep things like this.” Its way of being is innate and natural, and
presented matter-of-factly, as simply part of who the hawk is. it will continue to be this way, stoking fear in the hearts of its
Imagining what goes on in the mind of the hawk facilitates a prey. The poem, then, explores nature by focusing on one small
deeper meditation about nature, which the poem presents as part of it, the hawk. Through giving voice to the hawk, the poem
both majestic and fearsome. Violence, the poem suggests, is insists on the way in which nature is both miraculous and
just as much a part of nature as is beauty, and the natural world violent. It argues that violence and innocence, in the natural
isn’t subject to human notions of morality. world at least, coexist in balance—and that human moral
frameworks don’t really apply accurately to creatures like the
The hawk is a killer, and part of the poem’s aim is to make clear hawk.
just how natural this violence is. To that end, the opening line
depicts the hawk sitting at the “top of the wood,” symbolizing its
Where this theme appears in the poem:
place at the top of its ecosystem. And the poem is graphic in its
depiction of the bird’s violence throughout—the hawk refers to • Lines 1-24
its “Manners” as “tearing off heads” and its flight path as “direct

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7 creates a breezy easiness in the middle of the stanza,
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS capturing the hawk's ability to fly wherever it wants.

LINES 1-4 Line 8 sees the hawk characterizing the "earth's face" as being
"upward for [its] inspection." As with other lines in the poem,
I sit in ... this imbues the hawk with a kind of arrogant entitlement based
... kills and eat. on its superiority in the ecosystem. The hawk feels like it is the
The poem begins by launching straight into the hawk's interior boss of its world, the ultimate authority over everything below.
monologue
monologue. The hawk is personified throughout the poem, Ironically, then, the hawk is portrayed as a kind of God-like
given capacity for thought, language, and expression. This leads figure even while the rest of the poem seems to undermine the
to a kind of contradiction that runs through the poem: the "falsifying" morality of the Christian tradition.
hawk's killing nature is beyond human reasoning, and yet the
poem can only express this nature through human language. LINES 9-12
The hawk sits at the "top of the wood," surveying its kingdom. My feet are ...
Similarly, as a bird of prey, it sits at the top of the food chain, ... in my foot
and its high vantage point represents this superiority. Its closed The third stanza is an intriguing one, with the hawk reflecting
eyes capture the way in which it inhabits its nature on how it came to be the way that it is. Its feet are "locked upon
completely—it is at ease with itself, acting instinctively. The the rough bark" because it is in a state of preparedness, ready
end-stop at the end of line 1 reinforces the way in which the to swoop down and pounce on its prey when the moment
hawk will act only when it feels it needs to—it won't be hurried comes. This carries with it a violent threat, like a "locked" and
by anything else. loaded gun. As with the first lines of the preceding two stanzas,
The caesur
caesuraa after "inaction" creates a similar pause to the end- line 9 is also end-stopped, again creating the sense that the
stop, carrying the same connotations. Here, the hawk starts hawk is poised but unhurried.
drawing a distinction between the way that it thinks and the Lines 10-12 describe the hawk's relationship with "Creation,"
way that humans do. It indulges in no "falsifying dream"—it sees which, by virtue of its capitalization, seems to intentionally
the world according to its true nature—implicitly criticizing the allude to the Christian Creation myth. The hawk describes how
way that humanity imposes a false morality on the idea of it took "the whole of Creation / To produce my foot, my each
violence. In this poem, violence isn't evil, it's just a normal part feather." The allusion is important because the poem is drawing
of the hawk's world. The diacope and alliter
alliteration
ation in "hooked a distinction between human morality, which in the West is
head" and "hooked feet" emphasizes the sharpness of the parts largely informed by Christianity, and the natural laws that
of the hawk's body, suggesting its violent nature. In line 4, the govern the hawk's behavior. This line can equally apply to the
hawk states how it sometimes "rehearse[s] perfect kills and science of evolution—the hawk is the result of all the changes
eat[s]" when it sleeps. Even in dreams, then, the hawk inhabits that nature has been through over millions of years. In a way, it
its true nature. sees itself as the pinnacle of this process. The singling out of the
"foot" and "each feather" is a way of pointing the reader
LINES 5-8 towards the hawk's perfection, how it is so well-suited to its
The convenience of ... hunting instinct.
... for my inspection Line 12 repeats two words from earlier in the stanza:
The second stanza sees the hawk offering its thoughts about "Creation" and "foot." The first is an example of antanaclasis
the way that nature seems perfectly calibrated to suit its killing (when a word is repeated but with a different meaning)
instinct. Almost ecstatically, line 5 uses apostrophe to celebrate because now "Creation" refers not just to the process that
the hawk's position at the "top of the wood," as it exclaims, "The made the hawk but to the prey that the hawk holds in its claws
convenience of the high trees!" It's as if the hawk suddenly too. This again points towards a kind of natural law in which all
addresses nature itself. The trees work well for the hawk, animals—both the violent ones and the victims of that
because it hides in them and waits till it spies its prey. violence—are part of nature's beauty. This repetition also
Likewise, the "air's buoyancy and the sun's ray" provide the shows the hawk's power; the fact that it can "hold Creation"
hawk with an "advantage." The air allows the hawk to fly, and reinforces its sense of superiority. The repetition of
the sun allows it to spot its prey. This section is all about the "foot"—which is diacope
diacope—is interesting because the foot goes
equilibrium (the balance) of the natural world, which at once from being a body part at rest to a kind of deadly weapon,
seems infinitely complex but also remarkably simple. Nature's underscoring the hawk's violent power. The enjambment at the
different elements function in harmony. The poem's point, of end of line 12 sets up the next stanza, conveying the hawk's
course, is that the hawk's killer instinct is part of this harmony, sense of freedom.
not something separate. The enjambment between lines 6 and

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LINES 13-16 Lines 18 to 20 offer a neat and accurate summary of the way
Or fly up, ... that the hawk is presented throughout the poem:
... off heads -
For the one path of my flight is direct
Line 13 continues the phrase begun in line 12, picking up on the Through the bones of the living.
latter's enjambment across the stanzas: No arguments assert my right:

Now I hold Creation in my foot In other words, the hawk's singular, natural purpose is to kill.
Or flly up, and revollve it allll sllowlly - The use of "one" here is important; it implies that the hawk has
one true nature, and that everything it does expresses this
The enjambment across the stanzas indicates the hawk's natural law. It exists to kill—and it will. "No arguments assert
freedom, the way in which it is totally in its element. Line 13 [its] right" because it doesn't need the world of human logic to
uses the slow-sounding consonance of /l/ sounds to portray the justify its actions. Additionally, the enjambment between lines
hawk as taking its time, waiting for the perfect moment to 18 and 19 gives the phrase a feeling of directness, as though it
strike. is overpowering any need for punctuation or pause.
Line 14—"I kill where I please because it is all mine"—expands
on the hawk's attitude of superiority. It sees the world as "all LINES 21-24
mine." If a human was to utter this kind of statement, it would The sun is ...
seem both inaccurate and arrogant. But the whole point here is ... things like this.
that this sense of entitlement is part of the hawk's natural way The final stanza discusses the way that the hawk has never
of being—it behaves this way instinctively because that is its "changed," will not "change," and intends to "keep things like
nature. Lines 15 and 16 develop this distinction between the this." In other words, this section is about a kind of permanence.
hawk's behavior and the inapplicability of human thought in Of course, this is not the way that nature actually works:
understanding the hawk's nature: species come and go out of existence. But the hawk—in this
poem at least—is so dominant that it seems almost impossible
There is no sophistry in my body: that this kind of fate could ever come about.
My manners are tearing off heads -
Line 21 sees the hawk state that "The sun is behind me." This
creates a striking visual image of the hawk existing between the
"Sophistry" (clever but inaccurate thought) and "manners"
sun and earth. The mention of a planetary body (the sun) lends
belong to human morality, and don't apply to the laws of nature.
a cosmic scale to this final stanza, making the hawk seem
The hawk is not interested in questioning the way that it
somehow destined to occupy this place in the world—an idea
behaves, but only in fulfilling what comes naturally. The
that has been played with throughout the poem. This image
brutality of "tearing off heads" makes this a stark and shocking
also emphasizes how dangerous the hawk is to other creatures.
moment. In the undercurrent of the poem, though, is
In fact, it's interesting to note that humans have an inbuilt
humanity's own capacity for violence. Humans have certainly
reflex to turn around when a cloud goes across the sun. This is
torn off a few heads, both literally and metaphorically. A
thought to be based on a reaction to a potential threat from
complicated question hangs over the poem: how should
above or behind, including from birds of prey. Regardless of this
humans perceive their own capacity for violence, and how can
reflex's origin, the hawk's position between the sun and earth
they reconcile that with the Christian idea that violence is
means that it casts a shadow below, indicating its mysterious
inherently evil?
and threatening power.
LINES 17-20 Line 23 again reinforces the idea that the hawk has agency over
The allotment of ... its entire world: "My eye has permitted no change." Again, this
... assert my right: portrays is it as a kind of godlike figure surveying its kingdom.
Indeed, the poem concludes on this note, with the hawk
The fourth stanza develops the idea that the hawk acts in
insisting it is "going to keep things like this." Of course, the hawk
accordance with natural law. "The allotment of death" in line 17
doesn't actually have godlike powers—but this suggestion
is a way of describing how the hawk "allots" death to its
speaks to the powers that it does have, namely the ability to
prey—the word means something like "administer" or, more
administer death to its prey, soaring above the world while
colloquially, "dish out." An "allotment" can also be a small plot of
looking down on what awaits below. The end-stops throughout
land that people own and work. This implies a sense of
this stanza also contribute to its air of finality and authority.
ownership for the hawk too (who says in the previous stanza, "it
is all mine"). The end-stop in line 17 makes this a tense and
foreboding line.

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It took the whole of Creation
POETIC DEVICES To produce my foot, each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
ALLITERATION
Alliter
Alliteration
ation is used to strong effect in "Hawk Roosting." The The capitalization is significant here, marking out the word
first example is in the /h/ sounds of line 3: "Creation" as a reference to the creation myth central to the
Christian religion. In Genesis 1:20, God creates the creatures
Between my hooked head and hooked feet: of the world:

The /h/ sounds give dramatic force to the image, and require And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly
quite a lot of effort in terms of the reader's breath (each /h/ the moving creatures that hath life, and fowl that may
requires exhalation). This alliteration makes the image more fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
vivid, emphasizing the hooked shapes of the hawk, and carries
with it a quiet sense of violence. Thus, according the Bible, God himself gave the hawk a place in
Another strong example is in lines 11 and 12, this time with an the sky.
/f/ sound: The poem has a complicated relationship to this myth. On the
one hand, the Christian story is a useful way of conceiving the
To produce my foot, my each feather: world and placing the hawk in context. The hawk is a product of
Now I hold Creation in my foot "Creation" (in fact, it took the "whole of Creation" to make the
hawk!). Furthermore, the prey that it kills is also a part of
This stanza talks about the process of "Creation" that has gone "Creation." Thus, the Christian creation myth provides a way of
into making the hawk such an effective killer. The patterning of understanding how all animals are connected as elements of
the /f/ sound suggests precision and helps the reader focus on "Creation."
the hawk's individual parts, all of which work in accordance to On the other hand, this allusion is somewhat ironic. The poem
the bird's innate nature, producing a deadly killing machine. stresses keenly throughout that the hawk is outside of human
Other instances of alliteration are more subtle, as in the phrase morality and reasoning. However, human morality is often
"aallotment of death" in line 17, in which the /uh/ sound is connected with religion. Particularly, Western morality and
quietly repeated. Other times, alliteration happens in the blink Christianity often go hand-in-hand. Yet the poem seems to take
of an eye, as in the phrase "iit is all mine" in line 14 and the issue with the Christian assertion that violence is evil (as in the
phrase "MMy manners." All these examples point to alliteration as sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill"). The hawk is literally
a means of binding lines together, the tightly wound sounds born to kill, and killing is simply in its nature—yet the poem
mimicking the hawk's finely tuned body. doesn't depict it as evil.
So, the allusion isn't necessarily claiming that God made the
Where Alliter
Alliteration
ation appears in the poem: world, but rather that each creature has its place in the design
• Line 3: “h,” “h,” “h” of nature, regardless of whether its actions seem innocent or
• Line 6: “a” evil to humans.
• Line 8: “f,” “f”
• Line 11: “m,” “f,” “m,” “f” Where Allusion appears in the poem:
• Line 12: “m,” “f”
• Line 10: “Creation”
• Line 13: “f”
• Line 12: “Creation”
• Line 14: “I,” “I,” “i,” “i”
• Line 15: “i,” “i”
• Line 16: “M,” “m” ANTANACLASIS
• Line 17: “a,” “o” Antanaclasis (the repetition of a word in which the word's
• Line 19: “Th,” “th,” “th” meaning changes), occurs once in "Hawk Roosting," in the third
• Line 24: “th,” “th” stanza:

ALLUSION It took the whole of Creation

The poem makes one allusion
allusion, which is found in the third To produce my foot, my each feather:
stanza. Here, lines 10 and 12 refer to "Creation:" Now I hold Creation in my foot

Here, the two "Creation[s]" mean something slightly different

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from one another. The first refers to the process of
Where Apostrophe appears in the poem:
Creation—which can either be interpreted as relating to the
Christian story of how God made the world, or more simply as • Line 5: “The convenience of the high trees!”
meaning the natural process of evolution that has resulted in
the hawk's existence. Either way, this asks the reader to focus CAESURA
on the way in which the hawk's suitability to its
Caesur
Caesuraa is used quite sparingly in "Hawk Roosting." Two
environment—and its talent for inflicting death—seem like the
caesurae appear in the first stanza, with two more elsewhere in
result of millennia of careful deliberation and improvements.
the poem.
The hawk mentions its foot and "each feather," claiming each
individual body part to be a kind of marvel. The poem opens with an image of the hawk roosting, as the title
suggests. It sits at the "top of the wood," high above its
The second "Creation" refers to something more external to
kingdom:
the hawk. Whereas the first use referred to the process of
creation, this use refers to the result. In this sense, the whole
I sit in the top of the wood,, my eyes closed.
world can be thought of as creation. The poem's meaning here
Inaction,, no falsifying dream
relates to the hawk's prey—a mouse, for example. Not only is
the hawk the product of "Creation," but it can also exert its
This is a moment of stasis, which is not to be mistaken for a sign
power over "Creation" too. Like a god, it can literally hold
of weakness. The hawk is in no hurry, acting accordingly to its
"Creation" in its hands (technically feet!).
own whims, desires, and needs. The caesurae work by making
this opening slow-paced and unhurried. The hawk is happy to
Where Antanaclasis appears in the poem: rest in "Inaction," or to dream of its "perfect kills." Each comma
• Lines 10-12: “It took the whole of Creation / To produce gives the poem breathing space and pause.
my foot, my each feather: / Now I hold Creation in my The next caesura is in line 11. This one works with diacope (the
foot” repeated "my") to make the reader consider how each part of
the hawk's body is precisely engineered to allow it to kill
APOSTROPHE effectively:
Apostrophe is used just once in "Hawk Roosting." It occurs in
line 5: To produce my foot,, my each feather:

The convenience of the high trees! The final caesura is in line 13. This is best considered in context
with the line that comes before it (which is enjambed across the
An apostrophe is when the speaker addresses someone or two stanzas):
something that isn't present. Here, the personified hawk seems
to address the trees, and perhaps nature as a whole. The hawk Now I hold Creation in my foot
sounds almost ecstatic or rapturous. As though granted the Or fly up,, and revolve it all slowly -
powers of self-reflection, complex thought, and language, the
hawk considers how well-suited it is to its environment—and The way these lines connect over the two stanzas, and are
vice versa. Nature seems perfectly calibrated to enable the modified by the word "Or," suggests the hawk's sense of
hawk's way of life, from the layout of the trees, to the air, the freedom and its dominance over its environment. The caesura
sun, and the hawk's own body. The "high trees" provide the emphasizes this, placed early in the line to disrupt the poem's
perfect vantage point for the hawk from which to spot, target, sense of flow and make it clear that the hawk is in charge.
and kill its prey. Indeed, coming just after the word "up," the comma seems to
give that syllable a kind of upwards sound, granting it its own
As a device, apostrophe is particularly mannered and
little piece of airspace.
theatrical—it's not a natural way of talking. It's a distinctly
human invention for summoning things that aren't present.
Thus, the poem's use of apostrophe plays into its own inherent Where Caesur
Caesuraa appears in the poem:
contradiction: the hawk's nature is beyond human • Line 1: “wood, my”
understanding, but only human thought can express this. In this • Line 2: “Inaction, no”
way, apostrophe here acts as a human device for understanding • Line 11: “foot, my”
non-human lives. It, and the poem as a whole, functions as a
kind of jumping-off point for people to imagine what it's like to CONSONANCE
be a hawk.
Consonance is used subtly throughout "Hawk Roosting." One

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example of this subtlety is in line 6: DIACOPE
There are a few examples of diacope in "Hawk Roosting."
The air's buoyanc
ncy an
nd the sun
n's ray
The first of these is in line 3 (quoted with line 2 for context):
Here, the /n/ and /s/ sounds give the line a bouncy feel. This
evokes the freedom of the hawk as it soars above the earth, Inaction, no falsifying dream
looking down at the ground in search of its prey. Between my hook
hookeded head and hook
hooked
ed feet:

Line 9 also uses consonance to great effect: The diacope here emphasizes the particular shape of the
hawk's head and feet. Both of these are hooked, a shape that
My feet are lock
cked upon the rough barkk. carries with it connotations of violence and death. Hooks are
used in fishing and hunting, and also for the storage of dead
When read aloud, these hard /k/ sounds require the reader to animals. Accordingly, stressing the hawk's hookedness through
monetarily stop the airflow in their mouth as they speak these diacope portrays the bird as a well-tuned killing machine.
words. This creates a kind of "lock" in the mouth, subtly
conveying the way that the hawk's feet are gripped steadfastly Another example of diacope serves a similar function:
around the tree's bark.
It took the whole of Creation
Line 13 and 14's consonance has a markedly different effect: To produce my foot
foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot
Or flly up, and revollve it allll sllowlly -
I killll where I pllease beccause it is allll mine. The diacope here also has the effect of helping draw the
reader's attention to the individual body parts of the hawk, and
Here, we've bolded the /l/ sounds to draw attention to the slow, how each of them seems perfectly designed to aid the bird in
almost lazy feel of these lines. This consonance helps evoke the acting out its nature.
way in which the hawk—as it describes itself—is in no hurry,
flying over its domain in order to kill when and where it In these same lines, the repetition of "Creation" might be
"please[s]." thought of as diacope as well, although it's more precisely
identified as antanaclasis
antanaclasis, and is covered in its own entry.
Where Consonance appears in the poem: The poem's final use of diacope comes in lines 22 and 23:

• Line 1: “t,” “t,” “d,” “d” Nothing has changed since I began.
• Line 2: “n,” “n,” “n,” “f,” “f” My eye has permitted no change
change.
• Line 3: “n,” “h,” “k,” “h,” “n,” “h,” “k”
• Line 4: “r,” “n,” “p,” “r,” “r,” “p,” “r” Here, the hawk repeats the word "change," once as a verb and
• Line 5: “n,” “n,” “n,” “r,” “s” once as a noun, emphasizing how everything is going to stay the
• Line 6: “r,” “s,” “n,” “c,” “n,” “s,” “n,” “r”
same—even the hawk's word choice isn't going to budge.
• Line 7: “r”
• Line 8: “th,” “r,” “th,” “f,” “p,” “r,” “f,” “r,” “n,” “p,” “n”
• Line 9: “ck,” “k” Where Diacope appears in the poem:
• Line 10: “t,” “t,” “k,” “C,” “r” • Line 3: “hooked,” “hooked”
• Line 11: “r,” “m,” “f,” “m,” “f” • Line 10: “Creation”
• Line 12: “n,” “n,” “f” • Line 11: “foot”
• Line 13: “l,” “v,” “l,” “v,” “ll,” “l,” “l” • Line 12: “Creation,” “foot”
• Line 14: “k,” “ll,” “l,” “s,” “c,” “s,” “s,” “ll” • Line 22: “changed”
• Line 15: “r,” “n,” “r,” “n,” “m” • Line 23: “change”
• Line 16: “M,” “m,” “r,” “r,” “r”
• Line 17: “Th,” “t,” “t,” “th” END-STOPPED LINE
• Line 18: “th,” “th,” “t,” “t”
• Line 19: “Th,” “th,” “th” End-stopping is used frequently in "Hawk Roosting." It captures
• Line 20: “r,” “m,” “t,” “r,” “t,” “m,” “r,” “t” the powerful stillness that accompanies the hawk's killer
• Line 21: “n,” “n” instincts.
• Line 22: “N,” “n,” “n,” “n” The first end-stop comes at the end of the very first line,
• Line 23: “M,” “m,” “n,” “n” immediately halting any early momentum built by the poem:
• Line 24: “ng,” “th,” “ng,” “th”

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I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. ENJAMBMENT
Enjambment is used quite sparingly in "Hawk Roosting"; most
This end-stop takes the pace out of the poem, creating a sense of the lines are end-stopped
end-stopped.
of "Inaction," as the hawk says in line 2. The first stanza portrays
the hawk as a creature that, for all its fearsome speed and An early example of enjambment occurs between lines 6 and 7:
power (hawks can dive through the air at speeds of around 150
mph), feels itself to be in no hurry at all. It can kill when it wants, The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray
and will wait till that moment. Are of advantage to me;

Line 5's end-stop is also significant:

These lines conjure an image of the hawk soaring freely above
the earth, scouting below for prey. The enjambment creates the
The convenience of the high trees! impression of air between the lines, a moment of white space
that conveys a sense of the hawk's airborne freedom.
This line ends in an exclamation mark and is also an example of
apostrophe
apostrophe. The hawk here is expressing the way that its Between lines 10 and 11, the enjambment works to extend the
environment seems perfectly attuned to suit its killing instincts. length of the phrase:
From the "high trees," the hawk can survey its kingdom and
swoop down when it wants to. The end-stop makes this It took the whole of Creation
expression seem almost ecstatic. To produce my foot, my each feather:

Line 9's end-stop is also important. The hawk rests in another

Having a longer phrase hints at the long process of "Creation"
moment of "inaction," its feet gripping the "rough bark." The
that has resulted in the figure of the hawk (this can also be
pause created by the end-stop conveys a sense of being at rest,
interpreted as a reference to evolution). The phrase takes
waiting for something. In fact, the following three stanzas also
longer to complete, mirroring the vast amount of time which it
begin with end-stops, a deliberate effort to evoke the way that
has taken for the hawk to become such a well-tuned killing
the hawk is constantly switching between stillness and sudden
machine.
movement.
The enjambment between lines 18 and 19 is also significant:
The entirety of the final stanza is end-stopped. This lends the
hawk's words—which describe how it is going to "keep things"
For the one path of my flight is direct
as they are, because these things are well suited to its way of
Through the bones of the living.
life—an extra air of authority and drama.
The lack of an end-stop after "direct" makes the phrase—and its
Where End-Stopped Line appears in the poem: sense of momentum—seem more direct. This evokes the
• Line 1: “closed.” ruthless power of the hawk when it swoops down to kill.
• Line 3: “feet:”
• Line 4: “eat.” Where Enjambment appears in the poem:
• Line 5: “trees!”
• Line 2: “dream”
• Line 7: “me;”
• Line 3: “Between”
• Line 8: “inspection.”
• Line 6: “ray”
• Line 9: “bark.”
• Line 7: “Are”
• Line 11: “feather:”
• Line 10: “Creation”
• Line 13: “slowly -”
• Line 11: “To”
• Line 14: “mine.”
• Line 12: “foot”
• Line 15: “body:”
• Line 13: “Or”
• Line 16: “heads -”
• Line 18: “direct”
• Line 17: “death.”
• Line 19: “Through”
• Line 19: “living.”
• Line 20: “right:”
• Line 21: “me.” PERSONIFICATION
• Line 22: “began.” Personification is used from start to finish in "Hawk
• Line 23: “change.” Roosting"—there isn't a single line without it, in fact! That's
• Line 24: “this.” because the poem is told from the hawk's perspective, making
the bird of prey into the "I" of the poem. It's an interesting
approach, and one that has been criticized by some.

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First, it's important to understand the reasons behind this use
of personification. Hughes said of the poem himself, "Actually • Line 1: “y,” “eye”
what I had in mind was that in this hawk Nature is thinking. • Line 2: “ea”
Simply Nature. It’s not so simple because maybe Nature is no • Line 3: “ee,” “ee”
longer so simple." In other words, the poem attempts to speak • Line 4: “ee,” “e,” “ea,” “e,” “ea”
in the voice of the wilderness itself, as best as it can, using the • Line 9: “o,” “o”
complexities of human language. • Line 20: “y,” “i”
• Line 23: “y,” “eye”
Humans understand the world, in part, through language and
the imagination. The poem attempts to understand the
instinctive attitudes and behaviors of the hawk by inhabiting its
mind. This allows the poem to draw a distinction between the VOCABULARY
hawk's character and that of humanity. The hawk is not wedded
to the same sense of morality—particularly Christian The Wood (Line 1) - A wood is a substantial gathering of trees.
morality—that informs the lives of many humans. For the hawk, It is pretty much the same as a forest, though forests are
killing is natural, and this is expressed in the relatively arrogant usually considered larger than woods.
and superior thoughts that the poem grants to it: "I kill where I Falsifying (Line 2) - If something is falsified, it is altered in a
please because it is all mine." misleading way. The hawk is hinting that humans indulge in
But as critics have noted, this means that the poem contains an "falsifying" thoughts—like the idea that violence is evil. It
inherent logical contradiction. Hughes wants to explore the distances itself from such ideas.
interior monologue of the hawk, but how the hawk actually Buoyancy (Line 6) - Buoyancy relates to the power to float. Like
thinks and feels is impossible to know. a leaf floating on the surface of water, the hawk is buoyant on
the air.
Where P
Personification
ersonification appears in the poem: Creation (Line 10, Line 12) - The capitalization of this word
• Lines 1-24 suggests that it relates to religious myths about the way the
world was made, such as the Genesis story in the Bible. But it
also carries with it suggestions of evolution too.
ASSONANCE
Assonance is used sparingly in "Hawk Roosting." It is most Sophistry (Line 15) - Sophistry relates to clever but false logic
prominent in lines 2-4 of the first stanza: or argumentation. As with the mention of "falsifying" in line 2,
the hawk is implicitly criticizing that way human believe that
... drea
eam violence is inherently evil.
Betwee een ... hooked fee
eet: Manners (Line 16) - Manners can mean a general set of
Or in slee
eep reehea
earse peerfect kills and ea
eat. behaviors, but also has a more specific meaning that relates to
social conventions and politeness. The point the hawk is making
There are two different assonant sounds at play here. The long is that it doesn't need any of these.
/ee/ sound is prominent, and approximates the hawk's own Allotment (Line 17) - To allot something is to deal it out—the
screeching call. This fills the lines with an almost subconscious hawk "allots" death to its prey whenever it (the hawk) feels like
sense of the hawk's threat of violence. The /e/ of "reheaearse" and it. An allotment is also a small plot of land that people use to
the /e/ of "peerfect" also sound the same, which represents the grow fruits and vegetables, perhaps hinting at the hawk's sense
idea of perfection that the hawk is thinking about in its sleep. of ownership over the land below.
The other main example is in line 9: Assert (Line 20) - To assert something is to insist, particularly in
relation to an argument. A politician, for instance, might assert
My feet are lo
ocked upo
on the rough bark. that their policies are better for the country than someone
else's. In contrast to this, the hawk's right to kill doesn't rely on
This line is primarily concerned with aurally representing the any argumentation; it's simply how nature is.
tight grip that the hawk's claws have on the branch. These two
/o/ sounds work with the harsh consonance in "lock cked" and
"barkk" to create a rough and rugged sound, which grips the line FORM, METER, & RHYME
in the same way that hawk tightens its feet on the bark.
FORM
Where Assonance appears in the poem: "Hawk Roosting" is made up of six quatr
quatrains
ains. That said, this is
the only real formal constraint placed on the poem—there is no

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rh
rhyme
yme scheme or strict meter
meter. However, the quatrains, Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat
eat.
combined with the poem's extensive use of end-stopped lines,
do give the poem a sense of order and patterning. This plays This rhyme occurs in the hawk's dream, as if rules of the poem
into the discussion of "Creation" in the third stanza. Just as have been suspended for the moment. Here, the perfect rhyme
nature has created the hawk's perfect "foot, my each feather," coincides with the hawk's own dreams of perfection. The sound
so too has the poem achieved its own deliberate structure. of the rhyme embodies the "perfect kills."
In terms of how the poem unfolds, the poem starts by setting Because of this early moment of rhyme, an attentive reader
the scene, with the hawk biding its time at the "top of the might scan the rest of the poem to see if there are other
wood." Stanza 2 looks at the way nature seems perfectly rhymes. In fact, the poem includes some moments of slant
calibrated to aid the hawk's killer instinct. The third stanza rhyme that could almost be glossed over. There's "trees" and
discusses the way that the hawk's body itself is perfectly suited "me" in the second stanza, "slowly" and "body" in the fourth
to that same aim, whereas the following stanza differentiates stanza, "death" and "direct" in the fifth stanza, and "began" and
the hawk from the "sophistry" of mankind. In the final two "change" in the sixth stanza. These instances seem to flirt with
stanzas, the hawk talks in almost philosophical terms, staking the idea of rhyme, without fully getting there. Just as the poem
its claim at the top of its ecosystem. lies somewhere in the division between humans and non-
humans, its use of rhyme also lies between rhyme and no
METER rhyme.
"Hawk Roosting" does not follow a regular metrical scheme,
but is rather written in free vverse
erse. That doesn't mean that the
poem isn't attentive to the use of stresses, but that there is no SPEAKER
overall governing meter. In fact, since meter might suggest
human artifice, the poem instead employs tightly controlled but The speaker in this poem is none other than the hawk itself. The
erratic stresses, which mimic the hawk's instinctual, highly hawk is personified throughout, giving the poet (and the
calibrated movements. reader) the chance to imagine the interior thoughts of this
fearsome bird of prey. In particular, this technique is useful
Line 3, for example, uses stress effectively to create a sense of because it allows the poem to explore differences between the
the sharpness of the hawk's head and beak: hawk's attitudes and behaviors and those of humankind.

Between
tween my hook
hooked
ed head and hook
hooked
ed feet
feet: Throughout, the hawk has an air of arrogance and superiority.
It conceives of itself as perfect, and sees nature as a world
The way that these stresses are clustered together gives them perfectly tuned to suit its killing ways. It is, in many ways, the
a subtly violent sound, suggesting the killing power of the hawk. authority of its environment. In the second stanza, it says,

Similarly, line 9 uses stresses to convey the tight grip that the The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray
hawk holds onto its branch with (also subtly suggesting the Are of advantage to me;
tight grip that it can hold its prey with): And the earth's face upward for my inspection.

My feet are lock

locked
ed upon
on the rough bark
bark. This section conveys the way in which the hawk feels a kind of
ownership over everything that it sees below.
The two stresses at the end of the line here give the line a sense
of firmness, hinting at the hawk's power. The use of personification also allows the poem to implicitly
critique the way that humans think about the world. The hawk
RHYME SCHEME has "no falsifying dream,"and indulges in no "sophistry" (clever
"Hawk Roosting" doesn't have a rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme. A poem with but false logic) or "manners" (unnecessary niceties). In other
neat rhymes might have counteracted the poem's picture of the words, the hawk as a speaker is very different from a human
hawk's capacity for violence and killing—it would have seemed speaker. Although its main task in life is killing, it's not depicted
too clean, too human. This approach has a roughness and as evil. Rather, it exists as a part of nature that is outside human
unpredictability that matches the hawk's way of being. morality.

The only perfect rhyme in the poem occurs in the first stanza.
Indeed, the reader could be forgiven for then expecting a SETTING
scheme based on this rhyme to follow in the later stanzas. Lines
3 and 4 rhyme "feet" with "eat": The poem is set within the hawk's natural habitat: "the wood"
(which is pretty much the same as a forest). The poem opens
Between my hooked head and hooked feet
feet: with the hawk sitting at the top of a tree, its eyes closed in a

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state of rest. Stanza two expands on the setting, with the hawk But this poem itself is notable for its lack of specific historical
noting the way that the "high trees" and "the air's buoyancy and context. Part of the poem's aim is to uncover something innate
the sun's ray" all seem perfectly suited to its way of being. In and true about nature—to explore the laws of nature without
other words, the natural setting is perfectly attuned to the sentimentality. Accordingly, the hawk states "Nothing has
hawk. changed since I began," and that "I am going to keep things like
But there's another dimension to the setting, too. The poem is this." There is a sense of timelessness, then, to the way the
very much an interior monologue
monologue, set within the mind—or the hawk sees itself in its world. This speaks to the presence of
imagined mind—of the hawk. So in terms of setting the poem is violence in the world, suggesting that, though humanity may
as much about the hawk's psychology as it is about the actual seek to wish it away or view violence as evil, it is never as simple
landscape. This comes across in abstract lines like "There is no as that—violence will always exist.
sophistry in my body," as well as more figurative lines, like "For The poem's mention of "tearing off heads" is not sensationalist
the one path of my flight is direct / Through the bones of the or gratuitous. That actually is the hawk's usual method of killing
living." its prey, which are often small mammals, reptiles, and insects.
Hawks are a fairly common bird—indeed, the term "hawk"
covers a number of different species—and they are found on all
CONTEXT six major continents.

LITERARY CONTEXT
Ted Hughes was one of the most significant poets of the 20th MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES
century. His work was and continues to be widely read. He
grew up in West Riding, Yorkshire, a relatively rural part of EXTERNAL RESOURCES
England, cultivating an early interest in the natural world and • A Reading b
byy Hughes — Hughes reads the poem in his
often hunting and fishing. A large section of his works explores powerful Yorkshire accent. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
similar subjects to this poem: animals, natural law, and watch?v=uL3vCYSR-Y0)
psychology.
• Plath and Hughes Interviewed — A fascinating discussion
Ted Hughes was famously married to the American poet, Sylvia with Ted Hughes and the American poet (and Hughes's
Plath
Plath. In fact, it was due to her suggestion that Hughes made wife) Sylvia Plath. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
his first serious poetry submission, which resulted in the watch?v=V
watch?v=Vqhsnk6vY8E)
qhsnk6vY8E)
publication of his first collection, The Hawk in the Rain. Funnily
• More PPoems
oems and Biogr
Biograph
aphyy — Resources from the Poetry
enough, this poem does not appear in that collection, but in the
Foundation on Hughes and his work.
following: Lupercal. Despite an intense mutual affection at first
(https:/
(https://www
/www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ted-hughes)
.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ted-hughes)
sight, the marriage between the two poets was notoriously
fraught. Tragically, Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963. • Ted Hughes at the British Libr
Library
ary — More resources and a
Hughes's relationship and attitude towards Plath in the lead-up biography of Ted Hughes, from the British Library.
to this event has been—and continues—to be a subject of (https:/
(https://www
/www.bl.uk/people/ted-hughes)
.bl.uk/people/ted-hughes)
intense speculation.
• A Documentary about Hughes — A BBC show about
After Plath's suicide, Hughes's career continued to flourish. He Hughes' life and work. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
published a number of popular collections, many of which watch?v=XbA
watch?v=XbAGbjXPCP8)
GbjXPCP8)
continued to feature similar themes to this poem. Perhaps most
famous of these is Crow, a surreal sequence of poems that LITCHARTS ON OTHER TED HUGHES POEMS
builds on these natural themes and incorporates a more • Ba
Bayyonet Charge
unsettling sense of mythology. Indeed, mythology was a subject
close to Hughes' heart, and he published a translation from the
Roman poet, Ovid, in 1997 (Tales from Ovid).

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Hughes was active as a poet from the late 1950s until his death
in 1998. Apart from a brief stint living in America with Sylvia
Plath, Hughes mostly lived and worked in England. Indeed, such
was his popularity that he was appointed to the post of Poet
Laureate by Queen Elizabeth II and received numerous awards
and honors.

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HOW T
TO
O CITE
MLA
Howard, James. "Hawk Roosting." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 1 Aug
2019. Web. 22 Apr 2020.

CHICAGO MANUAL
Howard, James. "Hawk Roosting." LitCharts LLC, August 1, 2019.
Retrieved April 22, 2020. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/ted-
hughes/hawk-roosting.

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